Barry Anderson:
An Unexpected Fairy Tale
by Calise Sellers

Barry Anderson: An Unexpected Fairy Tale is an oddball coming-of-age fantasy comedy novel, whose genre aspires to be "Shakespeare meets 80's Teen Flick," taking cues from the likes of A Midsummer Night's Dream, Twelfth Night, Better Off Dead, Back to the Future... and CGI Barbie movies.  It's situational comedy, where the fantastic meets the mundane, and brings out complex themes and drama as a result.  I love psychological comedy (shock), and there's nothing I enjoy more than putting characters into a squirmy situation and seeing what it shows about who they are.  Bonus points for mistaken or hidden identities, swapped gender roles, supernaturally awkward pairings, love spells gone awry, and a healthy dose of "Why me??"

I feel like Puck would be proud.

Despite being about a sixteen-year-old, this story is really aimed at adults.  Being an exploration of identity and gender, it deals with many adult topics, from the point of view of a boy who desperately wants to learn to be a man, while it seems he's "star-crossed" to discover that becoming a "man" isn't as simple of a concept as he always thought.

It's a deep dive into selfness, exploring themes about fate, desire, choice, and emotional honesty, via a very silly journey of fairy godmothers and teen romances.  But buckle up: It's long.  And this isn't your little sister's fairy tale.  Even if it has as many tutus.

Hi.  So after about 25 years of writing fiction being one of the things I love most in the whole world, I’m finally taking the leap to share one of my novels with the world, in serial chunks.  To share it with you.  I’m about as nervouscited as I could be about this.

If you really don’t want any spoilers about the premise of the piece of fiction you’re about to read, then feel free to go read the first chapter and come back.  It’s pretty clear, pretty quickly what this story is about, and if you don’t want to know the inciting incident before it happens, you can feel free to skip my musings and introduction for now.

For everyone else, here’s what I’d like you to know before you read Barry Anderson...

Continue Reading

“Come like sun, like morning dew; Come like stars in navy hue. Come like deer to rivered glen, Come like lioness to den. Come like bird to yonder tree; Come fairy mum, watch after me.” - Fairy Godmother Summoning Rhyme

Note: Enrichment and Extras are like DVD extras and are designed to be read after its associated chapter, without any spoilers for later chapters.

Chapters

 

Audiobook Versions